1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece and a display method for an electronic timepiece, and more particularly to an electronic timepiece and a display method for an electronic timepiece which makes it easy to search object countries, cities or the like and facilitates selecting countries, cities or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been widely known an electronic timepiece having a world time function for displaying names of countries or names of cities in the world as well as the time at the countries or the cities. Such a function is mainly adopted in a digital timepiece and is rarely used in a three hands type timepiece. Further, the world time function is frequently adopted not only in clocks, but also in wrist watches in accordance with multiple function capabilities of wrist watches in recent years.
In such an electronic timepiece having the world time function, names of main countries and name of main cities as well as time data of the countries or the cities are stored in a built-in memory of the main body. Further, the built-in memory is frequently provided with various data in respect of countries or cities such as currency rates, average temperatures or the like in addition to the time data. Normally, when a user selects a world time function mode by a mode select button, a display portion displays information of time and the like of the selected countries or cities. Next, by pushing a select button, while successively displaying countries or cities, countries or cities intended for display are searched.
When the user finds the countries or cities intended for display, the user stops pushing the select button. Thereby, the display portion displays information in respect of specific countries or cities. Further, when the user wants to know information for other countries or cities, the user searches for such countries or cities by again pushing the select button. When the user returns to a normal timepiece mode, the user pushes the mode select button. The user can obtain information of time and the like of respective countries in the world in this way.
However, according to the above-described conventional electronic timepiece, there may be a case in which after specific countries or cities have been selected, successive countries or cities are selected further and when a user wants to know information for previously selected countries or cities, the user is obliged to search the previous countries or cities while pushing the select button again. Further, although there is select button having the function of feeding and returning operation, when previously selected countries or cities are remote from currently selected countries or cities, it is still necessary to each the previous countries or cities while pushing the select button. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the selection of countries or cities requires much time and labor.
Particularly, in the case of a wrist watch, an area of a display portion is limited and accordingly, when a number of stored countries or cities becomes large, names of countries or names of cities which can simultaneously be displayed are limited (normally only one) and accordingly, the searching operation becomes very difficult. Further, when the object of search is at a level of a city or below, for example, names of towns or beaches, the searching operation becomes even more difficult.
Hence, the present invention has been carried out in view of the above-described situation and it is an object of the invention to provide an electronic timepiece in which it is easy to search object countries, cities or the like and which facilitates selecting countries, cities or the like.
In order to achieve the above-described object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an electronic timepiece comprising area information recording means for recording a large number of area data pertaining to plural countries, cities and the like and information data time and the like in respect of the area data, area selecting means for selecting specific area data from the area data, selected area information storing means for registering a small number of the selected area data, and the information data in respect of the area data and selected area information displaying means for displaying the selected area data and the information data in respect of the area data.
In a world timepiece, normally, a large number of countries, cities or the like are recorded. According to the invention, a small number of specific countries or the like are selected from a large number of countries or the like which have been recorded and registered. Further, names of the registered countries and information in respect of the countries were displayed. A number of the registered countries, cities or the like is small and accordingly, searching can be carried out easily. For example, when about two to five countries, cities or the like having high frequencies of use are registered, time and labor of searching is saved.
Further, according to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an electronic timepiece wherein in an electronic timepiece having area information recording means for recording a large number of area data pertaining to plural countries, cities and the like and information data of time and the like in respect of the area data and selecting and displaying specific areas from the area data, the area data of the countries, the cities and the like recorded by the area information recording means is constructed by a hierarchy structure from larger ones in view of the areas and hierarchy searching is carried out in selecting the respective areas.
In the case in which a large number of countries or the like are recorded and specific countries are to be selected from these, a user must search them while successively displaying countries or the like. Hence, according to the invention, the area data is constructed by the hierarchy structure from larger ones in view of the areas and the hierarchy searching is carried out in selecting them. Therefore, the specific areas can easily be searched. Particularly, it is useful for a wrist watch having a small display area.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided an electronic timepiece comprising area information recording means for recording area data pertaining to plural countries, cities and the like and information data of time and the like in respect of the area data in a hierarchy structure from larger ones in view of the areas, area selecting means for selecting specific area data from the area data by carrying out hierarchy searching, selected area information registering means for registering a small number of the selected area data and the information data in respect of the area data and selected area information displaying means for displaying the selected area data and the information data in respect of the area data.
According to the invention, a small number of specific areas are selected from a large number of areas which have been recorded and registered. In selecting the registered areas, the hierarchy searching is carried out. Further, names of the registered areas and information in respect of the areas are displayed. A number of the registered countries, cities or the like is small and accordingly, searching and selection can easily be carried out by using the hierarchy searching. Further, the areas having high frequencies of use are selected, registered and displayed and accordingly, necessary information can easily be provided.
Further, according to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a display method of an electronic timepiece including an area information recording step of recording a large number of area data for countries, cities and the like and information data pertaining to plural time and the like in respect of the area data, an area selecting step of selecting specific area data from the area data, a selected area information registering step of registering a small number of the selected area data and the information data in respect of the area data and a selected area information displaying step of displaying the selected area data and the information data in respect of the area data.
According to the invention, a small number of specific countries or the like are selected from a large number of countries which have been recorded and registered and names of the registered countries and information in respect of the countries are displayed. A number of the registered countries, cities or the like is small and accordingly, searching can be carried out easily.
Further, according to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a display method for an electronic timepiece wherein in a display method of an electronic timepiece for recording a number of area data returning to plural countries, cities and the like and information data of time and the like in respect of the area data and selecting and displaying specific areas from the area data,
The recorded area data of the counties, the cities and the like is constructed by a hierarchy structure from larger ones in view of the areas and hierarchy searching is carried out in selecting the areas.
According to the invention, the area data is constructed by the hierarchy structure from larger ones in view of the areas and the hierarchy searching is carried out in the selecting operation. Therefore, the specific areas can easily be searched.
Further, according to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a display method for an electronic timepiece comprising an area information recording step of recording area data of countries, cities and the like and information data of time and the like in respect of the area data by a hierarchy structure from larger ones in view of the areas, an area selecting step of selecting specific area data from the area data by carrying out hierarchy searching, a selected area information registering step of registering a small number of the selected area data and the information data in respect of the area data and a selected area information displaying step of displaying the selected area data and the information data in respect of the area data.
According to the invention, a small number of specific areas or the like are selected from a large number of areas or the like which have been recorded and registered and the hierarchy searching is carried out in selecting the areas. Further, names of the registered areas and information in respect of the areas are displayed. A number of the registered countries, cities or the like is small and therefore, searching and selection can easily be carried out by using the hierarchy searching. Further, the areas having high frequencies of use are selected, registered and displayed and accordingly, necessary information can easily be provided.